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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s Justice Department says it has paid out its first cash reward under a program created eight years ago in a bid to solve cold cases.

The department says the recipient of the $150,000 reward provided a tip that led to the arrest and conviction of two brothers in the disappearance of Melissa Dawn Peacock, who vanished in November 2011.

Dustan Joseph Preeper and Joshua Michael Preeper received life sentences after pleading guilty last month to first-degree murder and second-degree murder, respectively.

Peacock’s case was added to the Rewards for Major Unsolved Crime Program in 2012, joining dozens of other unsolved homicides and missing persons cases.

The department says a tip was left on the program’s telephone line that same month and also included information about the July 2010 homicide of Ben Hare, which was not part of the program.